The Trail of Jellybeans
by Couatl
Summary: And other Childish misadventures. Crack, involving the crazed antics of travel-sized Kiyohime and Duran. Second installation - Yatagarasu winds up at Tomoe's house too, and Kagutsuchi sets out on a quest.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't even bother.

Note:  
Yes, you can tell that the soft drinks are getting to me.  
No Kagutsuchi was hurt in the making of this – rather, he is chewing off my head now.

**The Trail of Jellybeans**

Chapter One

--

"Well, _this_ is degrading."

"You don't say."

The little wolf-pup flinched at his oversized paws, stomping with one of them to experiment with his newfound body. His utterly awesome mechanical accessories had been confiscated sometime along the transformation, leaving him even more distressed. The presence of sudden fur did not appeal to him much, for it got dirtier easily and he was not one who enjoyed cleaning.

A snake was coiled up beside him, slender and strangely purple. She did not seem as bothered as her canine friend with her appearance, although she too was a bit sour when she realised that her new form had its many disadvantages. However, she admitted that her scales were somewhat similar to her previous structure's plating, and had a less stressful time getting used to it.

"I believe that we are better off than Kagutsuchi though."

The wolf-pup gave her a questioning look, confusion written in his eyes.

"From what I've heard, he got turned into a lizard of some sort."

Duran's wide smirk spread across his muzzle, showing off a fair deal of sharp teeth. His companion let out a slow and quiet hiss, which he assumed was the snake equivalent of soft chuckling. Feeling a great deal better, he proceeded to ask more questions which would hopefully push his ego further up.

"What about Diana? I never knew what she was in the first place."

"Apparently, she became a plant." Kiyohime replied cheerfully.

The wolf-pup frowned in deep concentration as he focused, unsuccessfully, on subduing his laughter. So, that explained why Yukino had requested for them to stop by a florist on the way. The entire HiME crew had gone on a vacation up in the mountains, bringing along a few selected friends and family.

"Midori was complaining a lot when Haruka tossed the bag of soil into the jeep."

"Hey, I wasn't sleeping! You don't need to tell me everything as if I've missed out on them."

"Natsuki didn't look very pleased when you were drooling all over her lap in your nap."

"Spare me the details." He groaned, not the least bit amused by the snake's teasing.

Kiyohime sighed in reluctance, and regretfully dropped the topic. Duran was very grateful that she was not up to notch with Shizuru's skills yet, or else he might have had to dye his fur permanently red to hide any traces of blushing. He had personally witnessed what the ex-Kaichou could do to Natsuki's face, and he did not relish the fact the person he was bound to could look like ketchup.

A week ago, the Childs had unexpectedly found themselves integrating from oblivion. It had caused a great deal of mayhem and perhaps a lot more if only they had been in their normal forms, but much to their misfortune, they were not. To most of them, it was greatly humiliating to be _warped_ into assorted _ordinary_ things so that they could blend in.

Fuka Academy had been invaded by a small amount of various animals and queer things, which caused a lot of commotion for the students and a lot of work for a happy Chie. Akane had a striped tabby following her wherever she went, a huge spider could always be found somewhere on Nao, Mai had a gigantic lizard trailing after her and Yukino carried a potted plant to school.

They were all surprised that St. Vlas had become a stallion instead of a chess piece, but Yukariko was a bit worried about having a large horse around her all the time. Gakutenou, thankfully, did not appear to take after his lion side too much and was now an armadillo. Shiho was stalked by what was believed to be a crow but resembled a vulture more closely.

Natsuki's reputation took some damage as Duran, seeming to be just a puppy, accompanied her constantly. Shizuru's fan club was somewhat frightened off by the huge purple python that she wore around her shoulders and neck, namely Kiyohime. None of the HiME cast – especially Natsuki – minded at all, finding that Shizuru was now much more easily accessible. This included Shizuru as well.

Mikoto was fascinated with her new pet rock. Miroku was not as fascinated with itself.

"Why don't we take a walk in the forest over there?" Duran suggested hopefully, feeling the need to get rid of his boredom.

"Seeing that both Shizuru and Natsuki are in the cabin doing _this_ and _that_ with each other, we might as well go." Kiyohime stated, analyzing the situation logically.

Kagutsuchi staggered out of the cabin, swinging the door open with a fairly loud slam and teetering down the porch. He held a can of Some Sort of Beer in his forelimb, the liquid swishing inside dangerously as he wobbled over to the two conversing Childs. The stench of alcohol hit the pair as he grinned, displaying a row of humiliatingly stubby teeth.

"Dunch go too der foresh! A witsh lives dar!" He warned, brandishing the Some Sort of Beer.

"He turned to drinking shortly after the change." Kiyohime explained, ignoring the lizard.

"But it took the friggin' sword out of his nose." Duran looked contemplative.

They continued watching Kagutsuchi stumble around, knocking over the woodpile and collapse into a snoring pile under it as he drifted off to sleep. Faces twitching with amusement from the drunkard's antics, they turned back to face the forest, taking on a more serious expression once again. They nodded at each other and then headed off in that direction, one scampering along and the other slithering.

"This forest is as large as that lizard's ass before this happened." Duran complained, kicking away a pinecone in his way.

"No, I'm pretty sure that the forest is smaller." Kiyohime answered pleasantly, tempting a snicker from the wolf-pup.

"We may get lost though." Duran frowned, lost in a rare moment of Using-His-Brain.

Kiyohime paused, her calculative mind pondering over the chances of them being unable to find their way back from the mass of greenery. Deeming it to be quite possible, she then moved on to thinking about a method to solve this potential problem. Her features then contorted as she brought up a packet of colourful beans, soggy and fizzling from the corrosive spit.

"We'll mark our path with jellybeans. Case closed." She spoke up, recovering quickly.

"Urrghh, you can store things in your stomach for later use?" Duran was mildly disgusted.

"I still have the remains of the First District in there." A _disturbingly_ bright smile lit up Kiyohime's face.

Duran wisely chose not to dwell on that particular topic anymore.

--

Five-hundred and seventy-four of the sweet and colourful beans later, they were both surprised that the stock of jellybeans was not diminished yet. But in a world where they weren't even supposed to exist, yet alone run about in the woods tossing jellybeans around, they chose not to complain and accepted it as another one of those bizarre happenings.

"Why did we even bother coming here in the first place?" Duran grumbled, finding the stroll increasingly boring and ignoring the fact that he was the one who suggested on going for it.

"You can play Rock-Paper-Scissors with Miroku later if you want. Even Mikoto beats him all the time – all she has to do is keep using paper." Kiyohime recommended smoothly.

There was a stark moment of silence that affected even the birds in the trees, reducing their charming, continuous twitters to desolate, forlorn chirps. Duran plodded on moodily while Kiyohime was whissling, which was a combination of whistling and hissing. Unnerved by the noise the snake was emitting, the few birds left squawked ungracefully and took off.

The pair came to an abrupt halt, marveling at the sight before them. Eventually, Duran started drooling and wiped the slobber off his muzzle furiously.

The tall house stood in the middle of the clearing, the dog-biscuit bricks complementing the sugar-icing roof perfectly. Cinnamon-powder smoke puffed out of the cake chimney in light clouds, wafting towards the adventuring Childs. Frosting laced the window panes, settling neatly on the licorice ledge. Candy-canes made up a fence that stretched around the circumference of the entire house including the garden, enclosing the lollipops that seemed to grow in the lawn.

Duran bounded across the clearing joyfully, Kiyohime latched onto his tail as the wolf-pup soared at an amazing speed. Coming to a stop just outside the buttered toast door, his little body wriggled with barely contained euphoria that oozed out of him in nearly tangible waves. Kiyohime was rattled about until she let go, feeling slightly dizzy but glad for the ride.

"Who was trampling across my garden?" A shrill voice raged as its owner opened the door.

Duran yipped merrily as his tail did a belly dance, beyond caring for his dignity or pride. Kiyohime flashed an angelic look that was meant to be impossibly innocent for a snake, but was somehow pulled off by her.

"What do we have here?" A nasty grin spread across the witch's face.

The wolf-pup whined, begging for food almost desperately. He could do away with some honour if it meant that he would get free desserts, especially those that Natsuki forbid him to eat. Apparently, confectionary was not supposed to be consumed by dogs – something that Duran absolutely disagreed with.

Often enlisting the aid of Kiyohime, he would make numerous schemes to thwart Natsuki's plans of separating the tasty tidbits from him. The most common way was to get Shizuru in the same room as the biker to distract her, and that Kiyohime excelled in.

While Natsuki remained blissfully oblivious, Shizuru knew of what the pair was up to but did not interfere. Furthermore, she did not need much encouragement to seek out Natsuki – a mere stare from Kiyohime was enough to tell her that they needed her assistance, which she willingly gave.

Unfortunately, Natsuki soon caught on as she realised that the last cookie in her private stash would always mysteriously disappear once Shizuru and the two Childs stepped into the room.

"Two little woodland creatures! How fortunate!" The witch exclaimed, clapping happily.

Kiyohime and Duran almost reeled, both not pleased with being mistaken for little woodland creatures.

"Come in, come in! The cupcakes are just out of the oven!" She continued rambling, making her way towards the fireplace.

Duran skipped in without a second thought, drowning in the brilliant scents drifting around in the house. Kiyohime followed soon after the wolf-pup, tempted by the rat in the corner that was eating something brown and sticky. She did not come across Chocolate-filled Rodents frequently and did not want to let this encounter go to waste.

"By the way, my name is Tomoe."

--

No surprise. I love ridiculing Tomoe, despite the fact that I remain a half-hearted fan of hers.

Next Installation: Yatagarasu does something horrible.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Mai HiME or Mai Otome. But I do own Sunrise! …Maybe not.

Note: I had more fizzy drinks again. They taste nice, don't they?

**The Trail of Jellybeans**

Chapter Two

* * *

Yatagarasu was not a happy Child. All his time in existence on earth had been spent on ambushing Mai, which did not earn him many points with Kagutsuchi. The dragon could have fried all of his feathers off at any time, if the orange-haired HiME had retaliated. He silently thanked Some Sort of Beer, grateful that his shot at getting the dragon drunk had been successful. But when the lizard wakes up from his drunken stupor, things wouldn't be so bright for him.

"Alright, since that dragon is snoozing off in the woodpile, now is my chance to escape."

Muttering darkly, he hopped towards the forest, remembering that he had seen Duran and Kiyohime sneaking off in that direction. If he could stick somewhere near them, he wouldn't be in so much danger. From what he had seen, the frightening snake was a match for Kagutsuchi, which was good enough for him. If only Kiyohime had been bigger, and Kagutsuchi smaller, for he had heard of snakes eating lizards before. He doubted that Kiyohime had anything against cannibalism.

Something shiny caught his eye, and his black head immediately swiveled around to examine it. It appeared to be a coloured bead of some kind, but the important thing was that it gave off a most remarkable sheen. Its bright red shade was striking, and the smooth feel of its texture was most charming. In addition, it was also portable for his current size. The crow-like Child marveled at this rare find, feeling that his luck had increased by tenfold.

Yatagarasu was in love. With a red jellybean.

But the jellybean was denied of his attention when he found that there was even more of its kind, forming a steady but twisty line further into the woods. Beaming unnaturally, he swiftly gathered the jellybeans up and began popping them into his mouth, humming as he strolled along the path. His problems with Kagutsuchi could be resolved later – he had serious snacking to do now. Reminded of his scrawny self, he chuckled gaily and continued on his way.

Addiction was something he was extremely familiar with. Shiho had always been obsessed over Tate, which he really didn't understand. The boy looked as if a horribly cropped haystack had tried to grow out of his thick skull, and he vaguely reminded Yatagarasu of a badly-made broomstick. How Mai was able to put up with his indecisiveness was something he somewhat admired. How Kagutsuchi, with all his tremendous powers, could bear with not engulfing the blonde in flames was also something he was impressed by. The dragon wasn't known for self-control.

Five-hundred and seventy-four jellybeans later, Yatagarasu was starting to develop a stomach ache. He groaned inwardly, knowing that if a certain lizard happened to find him, he would be easy prey. The only benefit was that his appearance was even scarier than before, for he had grown quite a fair bit after stuffing himself – this meant that other predators wouldn't fancy him as much as they would have before.

Tripping over a misplaced twig, he let out a harsh caw of alarm as he rolled down a hill, crushing flowers along the way. Fortunately, he landed softly at the edge of a clearing. He had been rendered slightly dizzy, and stood on unstable legs before his vision cleared. Dusting weeds that had gotten themselves into his feathers away, he tested out his limbs and was relieved that he had not broken anything. Getting himself injured in the middle of some large forest was not a good idea.

"Now how do I get ba – is that a house made of sweets?"

He felt the instant urge to dance on the spot in joy surge through his bloodstream, and could not resist giving a few kicks of his talons. A skinny ferret who had happened to be nearby changed his mind about having a snack, coming to the assumption that the bird had rabies. Yatagarasu flapped his wings clumsily, hasty to get to the doorstep of the building. If the outside was decorated so attractively, then the inside must have been packed with sugary goodness that he craved for.

He landed deftly on the window ledge, furiously tapping his beak on the window. His impatience soon turned into pleasure as he licked the window, sampling the sweet material. His movements had informed the house's occupants of his presence, but he could not be bothered with it when presented with such a delicious treat. His colourful lovers, already devoured and being digested, were mere appetizers in comparison to the window of this particular structure.

"An overgrown crow?" A face peered out of the window he was eating.

"I suppose so, although I get the impression that you are implying that I am fat." He answered, still concentrated on his food.

Tomoe gawked, appalled by the animal's ability to speak. Then a slow grin settled onto her features as she reminded herself that some birds had the talent to learn speech patterns of humans, reprimanding herself for not thinking of it sooner. Crows were quite smart after all, being one of the few animals able to make and use tools. Picking up on their language wouldn't be too difficult, if they were gifted with a skillful tongue similar to that of the parrot.

"Ara, Yatagarasu-san, what a pleasant surprise." The hiss that followed confirmed who was speaking.

The witch found herself disappointed when the unusually-coloured snake did not demonstrate any human-like symptoms of speech, but the tiny flame of hope that her guests could be useful was not yet extinguished. She had always been a determined person, stopping at nothing until she got what she wanted. The turquoise-haired girl had plans for _her pets_, which was what she regarded them as for the time being. Finders keepers.

"Yatagarasu? What are you doing here?" Duran demanded.

The crow-like Child took a break from his incessant licking, peering into the window to make out the two other Childs. Kiyohime and Duran sat on the wooden table, the wolf-pup partially submerged in a huge bowl of ice cream, looking very satisfied with something. The snake, however, was daintily rolling her forked tongue over her glistening fangs, which were dripping a red liquid.

_Please tell me that's the filling of a cherry-flavoured chocolate._

The bloody pool of bones, torn skin and a rat carcass told him otherwise.

"… W-what toothpaste do you use?" He stuttered weakly, losing a bit of his appetite.

"Ara, I didn't know that birds have teeth. I don't use toothpaste though – I don't have the limbs to hold toothbrushes. Do you want some? I have Midori's toothpaste in my –"

"No, Kiyohime, no." Duran growled firmly as he recalled the gruesome experience he had when the snake had produced the jellybeans, muzzle smeared with cookies-and-cream ice cream.

Tomoe had a blank frown on her face, annoyed at the exchange between the two parties which she did not understand on Kiyohime's and Duran's behalf. She huffed silently, then walked towards the windows briefly and threw them open with a strong swing, startling the bird outside as he managed to just avoid it before it hit him square in the beak.

"Why don't you come inside? I still have a cake baking in the kitchen."

Yatagarasu flew in, elated to be invited to join in the feasting. Soon, both he and Duran were locked in a competition to see who could consume the most pastries. Kiyohime had agreed to keep count of their scores, having already safely put away several sets of cutlery, a wooden chair, two china plates and other miscellaneous items into her stomach storage. Their host did not seem to notice her missing items, and the snake took advantage of her temporary unawareness.

"I seem to be short of a meat cleaver."

If Kiyohime could, she would have been whistling as she looked innocently at the ceiling.

--

Kagutsuchi groaned, clasping his right forelimb to his snout. The world was swirling in a storm of blue, white and brown, the colours endlessly gliding over one another as they each fought for dominance over the other two. He squinted, and the raging sea of colour gradually settled down as he realised he was looking at the sky through the gaps between pieces of firewood.

A violent shove was enough to throw the logs away from him, and he stood up on shaky legs. Steam escaped from his nostrils, but the reassuring feel of scorching heat within his throat was still unattainable. All the Childs had lost their powers after the change, however, he didn't receive it as well as the others did. Cursing under his breath, he dragged himself to the door, clambering into the cabin through the in-built dog flap.

How the mighty have fallen.

Making his way to the attic door, he climbed up the steps that were once like Lego-blocks to him. He walked towards a box in the corner of the dim room, paws lifting open the lid with ease. He could have been a lizard right now, but his strength and size was still commendable. The contents of the box was quickly fished out, those he deemed unimportant strewn to one side and those that he wanted placed on the boarding before him.

A lighter, two boxes of matchsticks and a wooden splint.

He smiled, gathering his findings and picking out one that was the most useful in his opinion. Now equipped with a lighter in his mouth, he climbed out of the window and scaled the wall effortlessly. It seemed to be the only advantage of being a lizard, but flying as a dragon was definitely much better than being able to stick to most surfaces. With murderous intent, he rushed off, following Yatagarasu's stale scent that lingered in the air.

He wished he knew where Mai had confiscated the flamethrower.

* * *

I felt sorry for Yatagarasu. My favourite animals are crows.

Dang, someone found out that Diana was going to be a Venus Flytrap!  
Ah, I completely forgot about Akira's frog. Curse my short-term memory. Sorry!

I didn't expect that many reviews for this fic, so I'm really honoured. I'm wondering if some of you are reviewing the correct fic, actually. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to review, and providing suggestions for improvement! I really appreciate it, no matter how corny this sounds.

Next Installation: The other Childs get into action.


End file.
